One anecdote you hear time and time again about Quincy Jones is how personable he is. No matter who you are, what you are doing or where you are from, he will engage directly with you. He won’t create a distance or be as polite as the situation dictates. I’m sure that’s it’s the case with everyone, but I can attest that was the case when I sat down with the 85-year-old legend this week.
Walking into a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel, Jones grabbed my hand and looked directly in the eyes when talking to me. He wanted to know my ethnic background (it’s Russian, English, French and German). He wanted to know where I grew up (New York). He liked my shirt (The Kooples). And that was all before I barely got a word in edgewise. In 14 years of being a journalist I can hardly remember such an interaction with someone of Jones’ stature. He’s a Kennedy Center honoree, won 27 Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, an Emmy award, an honorary Oscar and received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama. To say he doesn’t need to impress me or any of my peers walking through that door is something of an understatement. And, yet, he was present.
READ MORE: “Quincy” trailer: New doc focuses on legend’s life through the eyes of his daughter
The prolific composer, musician, producer and social activist is the centerpiece of “Quincy,” a new documentary directed by his daughter Rashida Jones and Alan Hicks (“Keep On Keepin’ On”) that premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival and will be available shortly on Netflix. This isn’t the first doc to tackle Jones’ life, but it has a personal insight missing from previous attempts such as 1990’s “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones.” Jones started recording her father six years ago. Why did he agree to journey down memory lane once more?
“This is my baby,” Jones says poing to Rashida. “I see, trust and respect is there. So, I didn’t do a thing, I just said, ‘O.K.’”
Later on, Jones jokes, “Because I’m getting old. It’s about time.”
Rashida Jones adds, “I think, I think there’s been this incredible wave of music movies in the past decade, where you could really explore the intimate details of someone’s life and tie it to the work they’ve done in the world. And I think maybe having seen some documentaries that I felt inspired by, I felt like his story was worth telling and in that particular way.”
Rashida Jones and Hicks’ use some footage from “Listen Up,” notably when Jones returned to his Chicago Southside roots in the late 80’s for the first time in decades, but for the most part it shows Jones working at home, dealing with a health scare in 2015, his battle with a brain aneurysm that almost ended his life 44 years ago and, of course, the highs and lows of his incredible career. A career so massive “Quincy” can only cover so much of it in a 2-hour timeframe.
“We wanted to do something that didn’t rely on talking heads. We wanted to do something that felt really intimate, that felt very first person and that could kind of flow back and forth from archival to vérité,” Rashida Jones says. “In a way where we could tell a story that felt like it was kind of his. The motivating factor was his inner emotional life as opposed to doing this sort of academic run down of his life.”
The man who produced Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album and wrote the music for the landmark mini-series “Roots” admits that even though he’s spent a good chunk of his life in the spotlight being followed around on camera for hours on end wasn’t necessarily fun.
“Well, you know I’m not a big camera fan at all. Especially selfies,” Jones jokes. “These guys shoot me when I go to the bathroom.”
Rashida Jones laughs, adding, “He didn’t love the mic.”
Jones remarks, “I couldn’t do it with strangers.”
Despite the family involvement, Jones left Rashida and Hicks to make the movie they needed to make. There was nothing he requested be removed or, subsequently, included.
“We have a certain responsibility. Not just to him, but to filmmaking and documentary filmmaking, I feel like there’s a certain journalistic integrity that you have to have,” Rashida Jones adds. “You also have to be true to the story and I didn’t want to leave things out just to placate him. And, so, the fact that he said, ‘Do what you do and then show us, show me when you’re done, when you guys are done.’ That gave us faith to move forward so we could creatively set the story.”
One of the things that struck me watching “Quincy” is how throughout his career Jones was always open to change. After college he began playing trumpet in Lionel Hampton’s touring band, became the first African-American to be a vice-president at Mercury Records, took his talents to the big screen as a major film composer (“In Cold Blood,” “In The Heat of the Night”), produced songs for some of the greatest voices of all time (Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra) and released his own chart-topping music all before 1970. Oh, right and somehow over the next two decades he produced Jackson’s iconic first three albums. He shepherded and scored Steven Spielberg‘s classic “The Color Purple” (he discovered and encouraged Oprah Winfrey to star in the film) and released a Grammy-winning album, “Back on the Block,” that seamlessly integrated the stylings of jazz with hip-hop. Some artists fear the new and stick to what is safe. That seemingly has never been Jones’ mantra.
“You can’t get an A if you are afraid of an F. You gotta take your chance all the time,” Jones says. “And [there is one other thing that] is very important too. I’ve had artists I’ve worked with who’ve said, ‘Well, that’s only worth 20% of my energy.’ You give it 150% every time. They said, ‘Empty the cup every time, it comes back twice as full.’ It’s true.”
As the film demonstrates, Jones’ will to keep working is still going strong. Meeting him in person though, it’s clear Father Time isn’t making that easy. But as I leave he once again grabs my hand and looks directly at me as we say goodbye. And you get it. You understand how he’s broken down so many barriers and reached the highest heights. You experience the secret of his success. It’s simply him.
“Quincy” launches on Netflix on Sept. 21 worldwide.